


Rolling in the Deep

by harlequindream



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Roller Derby AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-08 23:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8868133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlequindream/pseuds/harlequindream
Summary: Jillian Holtzmann needed a break from her work, so her best friend Patty takes her out for a night of roller derby. While there she meets a woman in one of the teams. One who goes by the derby name Eleanor Bruisevelt. And Jillian Holtzmann finds herself intrigued.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I must say that this fic is gift for katemkinnons on tumblr. She posted a little thing about a holtzbert roller derby au, and I of course got excited by it. So here it is. Or at least the first chapter or it. Oh and yes, it's inspired by Whip It.  
> Also, thanks to a couple of my friends over at twitter who proofread this for me!  
> Okay, on with the show.

Jillian Holtzmann had been working on her thesis day and night for months now. She couldn’t remember her last full meal, or the last time she had been outside in the daylight, nor could she remember the last time she had actually shut down her computer instead of keeping it in sleep mode. She was desperate to get her thesis perfect. Her facts and findings had to be 100% accurate otherwise she would barely sleep at night, if she were to actually get sleep in the first place.

Her closest friend, Patty, continuously told her that she desperately needed to take a break. She had to _stop._ Even if only for a little while, and Jillian would tell her that no, she couldn’t stop now because she had, “just one more paragraph to write,” or another experiment to do and write up her results.

Patty was getting sick of it. They had barely seen each other for weeks by now and she wanted her friend back, even if just for a few hours. Which was how Jillian found herself practically being dragged out of the lab she was working in by her friend.

“Patty, you know I can’t take any time off,” Holtzmann cried when Patty had walked in with a determined and slightly angry look on her face.

“Look girl, you need a break. I haven’t seen you in _forever_ , and I haven’t even gotten so much as a goddamn text out of you either,” Patty pointed out. “You just need some time away and refresh yourself. I’ve got something exciting to do,” she grinned, hoping the promise of something fun would coax her friend outside.

“Not a chance, Patty-cakes. You’ve got it wrong. I need to stay here and keep everything in my mind instead of taking a break. I’ll lose momentum otherwise. Basic physics, that,” Holtz told her while fiddling with some wires on her workbench, not actually doing anything in particular, but she needed to look busy if she was going to get Patty to leave.

In all honesty, Holtz had hit a rough patch. She wasn’t making any progress and she was spending most of her days procrastinating by either stripping wires or watching Netflix.

“I ain’t taking no for an answer. I’ll drag you out kicking and screaming if I got to,” Patty looked Holtz dead in the eyes and raised her eyebrows, hoping Holtz would back down and agree.

Jillian just stared at her warily. “What is your plan?” she asked softly, simply out of curiosity, of course.

“Nuh uh, if you want to know you have to come with me.”

Jillian dropped her wire strippers and just stared at her friend. True, she hadn’t exactly left her lab or her apartment in a very long time. At least not for anything other than travelling from one place to the other. It was only late November, meaning she had plenty of time to get her thesis finished since she was well over half way through with it. And she had hit a wall anyway, not that she’d admit it to Patty.

_Okay, so maybe it will do me some good to get out,_ she thought to herself. Holtzmann could tell that Patty knew she was coming around since the woman started to smile at her with a hopeful twinkle in her eyes.

“So?” Patty asked simply, sounding eager.

Holtz paused, narrowing her eyes. “ _Fine,_ ” she relented. “Let’s go do this thing you have planned.” 

And Patty whooped, literally yelled out in excitement because her plan had been executed. 

“Can we go get some chilli cheese fries first? I’m starving,” Holtz said as she grabbed her leather jacket from the back of her chair and walked out of the lab with Patty.

 

 

Jillian had never been to this area before. It wasn’t like it was the dodgy part in town, but it wasn’t exactly the best either. The two women had arrived at what was almost like a deserted junk yard, except it was swarming with people. Everyone was walking into a big and dilapidated warehouse, getting their wrists stamped as they went through the open doors. 

“What is this place?” Jillian asked as she and Patty walked towards the small line of people waiting to be admitted inside.

Patty looked down to her, grinned, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s roller derby, bitch!” she yelled, to which a few other women around them yelled out in agreement of that statement.

“Roller derby?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what roller derby is, Holtzy.”

“I know what it is,” she said casually. “But I’ve never been before. Why have you taken me to a roller derby game?”

“I don’t know. It was happening?” Patty shrugged. “I’ve been a few times but nothing on the regular. It’s an exciting game! Look, it’ll be fun! Just try and forget about your work and enjoy yourself, okay?”

Holtz just shrugged and promised she’d only focus on the game and nothing having to do with her thesis. She was reluctant to get into it because she knew how much work she had to do, but this was going to be for Patty tonight, not for her own enjoyment. 

They payed the small fee to get in and got a stamp on their wrists; it was of a roller skate with stars surrounding it. As they walked into the warehouse they could tell it was going to be a crazy night. There were so many people, mostly women, and they all had cups of beer and were walking around yelling, excited for the game Holtz guessed. Few people had actually managed to find seats yet, but that made it easier for Patty and Holtz to find some good seats close to the rink. 

Holtzmann held a couple of seats while Patty went to get them drinks, and Jillian just had a look around. The track didn’t seem to be as big as she imagined. It was also on a lean which she thought would be difficult to skate on.

She’d only ever skated about twice in her life, and both times she had fallen down and grazed her knees so she thought never again. Though, she was only a kid back then and now her balance would be a lot better these days. She thought that maybe she should give it a go if she felt so inclined after seeing some experts do it.

Patty came back just in time for the game to start. A rather raggedy and stringy looking guy came out onto the track wearing knee length shorts, flip flops, a singlet and a rather old looking sports jacket. He held up a microphone and started getting everyone to quiet down.

“Alright, alright folks! Take your seats and shut up,” the man said into the mic and paused, waiting for everyone to get less rowdy. As he spoke again he introduced the first team; the Rough Diamonds. Patty even booed and Holtz threw her a confused look.

“They aren’t my favourite team,” she laughed and turned back to the track, shouting out again. Seemed like the other team was getting introduced. “Now _these_ girls are the real stars,” Patty cheered as she pointed to the team.

Jillian looked out to the track and watched as each girl came skating out. The announcer informed the warehouse they were the Nuclear Bombshells. Holtzmann already liked their team name, and she even smiled a little as each of the girls names were called out. 

There was one woman that really caught Jillian’s eye. She had been introduced as Eleanor Bruisevelt, and Holtz even laughed softly at the name, appreciating this pun over many of the other names. Holtz appreciated her look a lot more too.

The team colour seemed to be navy blue, since their uniforms (if you could call them that since they were all different) were also navy blue. This Eleanor Bruisevelt wore navy blue stockings with a high waisted skirt that flared out a little as she moved, and she wore a skin tight navy vest to match. Not to mention the tiny black bowtie tied around her neck to complete the look. Jillian couldn’t stop looking at her. She was just so beautiful. And with such dark and thick eyeliner the woman wore it seemed like she could kick Jillian’s ass, which she strangely enjoyed the thought of.

After a good five minutes of watching the woman go around and around the track with her teammates for a warm up she tore her eyes away and looked to Patty, who was already staring at her.

“Holtzy sees something she likes? Or someone, I should say.” her friend teased.

“What? No!”

“You’re lying, girl, but that’s okay. Just enjoy the game, yeah?”

Holtz nodded and turned back to look at the track. The two teams had gotten into their starting positions, and though Holtz had never actually seen a game of roller derby she assumed it wouldn’t be too hard to follow.

 

 

As it got to half time Jillian discovered she was wrong. Really wrong. She couldn’t keep track of who was meant to be scoring, and how the scoring worked. For one thing the women kept pushing and shoving each other. There was hitting and scratching and tripping everyone up. Holtz understood that roller derby was a pretty rough thing, but she didn’t know how much she would… _like it._ If she were completely honest she’d say she was totally turned on by it. All the women out there were having _fun_ , despite all the shoving, and Jillian was completely into it.

Patty had to keep telling her what had happened in the technical terms just because she really couldn’t keep up, but by the end of the game she was cheering and yelling along with Patty and the rest of the crowd.

The Nuclear Bombshells didn’t end up winning but Jillian watched them all huddle together after the game ended and saw them smiling and hugging each other, which was nice, Holtz thought. That even though it was a competitive thing they were still just in it for the fun of it.

Holtz had started to walk around the warehouse, which was slowly getting less and less packed with people and they all left. Patty had said she needed to find the bathroom so here Jillian was, just wandering around. There seemed to be a few stalls set up, and Holtz could see some of the girls from the Rough Diamonds manning one of them. The other team members were just skating around, talking to people.

She started to look around to see if she could see one for the other team, the one she now called her favourite, even if she had only seen one whole game of roller derby in her life at this point. She just loved the energy and excitement it provided. It was an intense game and she really liked that.

She stood up on the tip of her toes to see over the sea of tipsy people hoping she’d catch a glimpse of _her._

And then she saw the eyeliner, and almost immediately started walking in that direction, her feet walking of their own volition. The woman was talking to some other people, giving them a poster (even signing it for them) and Holtz just waited behind them. She had a glance over the big board behind the stall, wondering how much the posters would cost, because she definitely had to get one now. Truthfully she just needed a reason to talk to the girl she had been watching most of the night. 

Holtz was looking around her, watching some of the other team members of the Nuclear Bombshells chatting to others when she heard,

“Come here often?”

She looked up and saw the woman smirking at her. 

“H- hi,” Jillian stuttered as she stepped closer to the stall. She couldn’t formulate a sentence, which was completely unlike her.

“Your first time here then?”

“Yeah,” Holtz smiled softly, blushing a little because this woman had spoken to her and Holtz felt like a fan of her already, like she was some celebrity. The woman kept smiling at her, kindly too, like Jillian wasn’t standing in front of her being a silent weirdo. 

“I, uh, you were really good out there tonight,” Jillian eventually said, and the woman beamed.

“Thanks, that means a lot, I guess,” she giggled, and Holtz almost fell in love with that sound right then and there.

“Anyway, I should probably head off,” Holtz mumbled and pointed her thumb out behind her. “I just want to say that, you’re all my new heroes.” She looked down to her boots, blushing and embarrassed. 

And this woman just shrugged, “Well, put some skates on. Be your own hero.”

Jillian smiled at her and nodded, turning to walk away before-

“See you around, maybe?” the woman called out.

“Yes!” Holtz spat out before she even knew she was thinking it. “I mean, yeah. Yep, I might come back,” she _tried_ to say nonchalantly. 

The woman just laughed softly, “Okay then.” 

As Holtz turned around again to walk away she caught a wink coming from her new hero, Eleanor Bruisevelt. _A wink._

Jillian focused on walking out of there harder than she had ever needed before because it would not be cool if she were to trip now since she was so flustered over this woman, who to Holtz seemed just way cooler than Holtz ever could be. And she felt like she was cool. 

Patty found her outside of the warehouse. She was drawing patterns in the dirt with the edge of her boot, trying to calm herself down a little. 

“Holtzy!” Patty bellowed. “You had a good time, right?” 

“Yeah,” she grinned. “Had a really good time. Thanks for getting me out. I really needed it.”

“Hah! Told you so!” Patty laughed as she took Holtz’s arm and locked their elbows together as they started to walk to the nearest subway station. 

 

When Holtzmann got home that night (only because Patty said she needed a proper night of sleep) she found herself thinking of the woman she met. Everything about her seemed to radiate ‘cool’. She played roller derby, could elbow someone to the ground, wore eyeliner better than Adele ( _The Adele_ ), and stayed completely chill while they talked and Holtz was a mess right in front of her.

Yes, she had a thesis to write and even some assignments to finish but as Holtz was showering that night she found herself promising she’d go to every roller derby game that the Nuclear Bombshells would be participating in. 

As she got into her pyjamas and started to just towel dry her blonde locks she looked up the derby team on her laptop and made reminders in her phone on what days they had games on.

Holtzmann didn’t actually buy a poster, it had totally slipped her mind when the woman started talking to her, but this just gave her a reason to speak with her the next time they saw each other. Assuming Holtz could form a coherent sentence by then.

Just the idea of seeing the woman again, whatever her real name might be, was exciting to Holtz. She was going to have to wait a week until the next game was on, which she imagined might kill her since she really just wanted to feel that pumped about something again.

Patty had been completely right. She just needed a break, to pause for a while. Jillian now felt refreshed enough to get some decent work on her thesis done in the next few days. And if going out one night a week was going to _help_ her work, then it’d be fine. Right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't had anyone to look over this chapter (because I'm just too excited to write this tbh) so any mistakes are mine and I'm sorry for them!

During the next week Jillian managed to get quite a bit of work done. Considering the pace she had been going at recently, it was certainly an improvement by anyone’s standards. She obviously understood why she was working so hard; that roller derby game and the girl she met. Since meeting that gorgeous woman the other night Holtzmann had just kept her head down and worked tirelessly on her thesis just in an effort to get this week out of the way so she could go to the next game.

She hadn’t told Patty she’d be going back. Maybe because she didn’t want Patty to be smug about finally getting her interested in something that got her out of the lab for once. Jillian hadn’t bothered to check if her friend would be going back this week so there was a small chance they’d bump into each other. Though, honestly, Holtzmann wouldn’t mind all the ‘I told you so’s’ if it meant she could see _Eleanor Bruisevelt_ again.

 

As Jillian got ready for the night she told herself, quite firmly, to not leave too early. There was no reason to be early to a game like this. Especially since the game last week started twenty minutes later than the time stated on the flyer pinned around the warehouse. Last time she wasn’t exactly early with Patty but they had managed to get good seats and Holtz wanted that again. For no reason in particular of course…

She had been reading up on some roller derby rules during the week. Just googling on her phone at lunch and dinner, or before she went to sleep. If she was going to watch this woman she now admired she was going to damn well know what position she played and what it meant.

Holtz considered that it might be a little strange to do that, but really she was intrigued by the whole game now. She had just found her specialty subject within it; the woman who went by the name Eleanor Bruisevelt. 

Locking the door to her apartment, Holtzmann set out for the night after having waited far longer than she was ready for. Which meant she’d be right on time, obviously. Impatient would be a bit of an understatement for Holtz; she buzzed with excitement. And with a cheerful smile on her face she walked to the subway station.

 

When Jillian arrived at the warehouse it was considerably less populated. Sure, there were still quite a lot of people, all of whom seemed excited for the game tonight but there wasn’t exactly a buzz of excitement in the air like the week prior. As Holtz paid to get in, getting the stamp pressed to her arm again she picked up a piece of paper from the entry table just outside the doors.

Holtz read that tonight the Nuclear Bombshells would be against The Dropkick Mollys, and Holtz found herself laughing lightly at the name. It was a good name, she thought. The flyer also stated that it was Round 2, which meant that it was only the second week of the season. Which also explained why the place didn’t have such a fierce atmosphere this week. It had been the beginning of the season before.

Jillian grinned to herself as she took a lap around the warehouse. It was only the second game. She’d have many more weeks of the game to come, and even more time to get to know Eleanor Bruisevelt. That is, if Holtz could actually get herself to be confident around the woman.

There wasn’t much Holtzmann didn’t find herself uncomfortable with. She was always at her best when she was flirting with women she liked, and even some she didn’t like. Or at least didn’t know yet. Point was, it was one of her best attributes; flirting. Being _charming._ Except for the life of her she could barely manage a sentence around this new woman. Which could only mean one thing; Holtzmann already really liked her.

It only made Jillian want to get to know her more. Even as just a friend. She seemed like a tough woman, otherwise why would she participate in such a brutal game like roller derby?

Holtz had made her way around the warehouse once, just watching people talk to each other, or go find seats. Quite a few people were up against the railings of the derby rink. These were the peoplewho really wanted to see the punches and trips up close, and Holtz _really_ didn’t want to see that. It seemed hectic enough from sitting in the actual seats. Far away from the action on the track.

She eventually found a spot close enough to the rink but not close enough to see blood if there happened to be any. An even better seat than when she with Patty.

She sat there awkwardly for about fifteen minutes, fiddling with the flyer in her hands before the lights in the warehouse shut off abruptly and the man from last week came out again to introduce the teams and get the crowd riled up. Everyone cheered loudly, and Holtz felt herself joining in. She didn’t have Patty to yell alongside with but tonight it felt like it didn’t matter. She was out to have a good time.

As Eleanor Bruisevelt was introduced, Holtz cheered and clapped louder than for anyone before the woman rolling around the track right now, her hands up and waving to everyone. Holtzmann honestly thought she hadn’t smiled so much in _weeks_. She was too frustrated with her work. This was exactly what she needed in her life.

 

It was half way through the game when Holtz thought she might collapse. The Nuclear Bombshells were down by at least 13 points, much like how their first game had gone. Holtz was cheering louder as the women got into place at the front of the pack to start the second half of the game. That was when she saw it. _Saw her._

Jillian was right in the eye-line of Eleanor Bruisevelt, and the woman had spotted Holtz in the crowd because she smirked at her. _Smirked!_ Holtz felt her cheeks get hotter than normal and she tried to smile back while the woman was still looking at her. Then just as the man in the middle of the track with the megaphone called for them to begin, this woman _winked_ at Jillian.

Then she was racing off, trying to push some other girl out of her way, and Jillian sat there in her seat a little stunned.

She told herself there was no way that the hot roller derby girl saw her in the crowd and decided to wink at her _with_ a smirk on her face as well. It must have been to someone beside her or behind her. Holtz looked at the people around her. None of them seemed that interested. No one was watching the woman Holtz had been low key crushing on, so maybe either they didn’t know the woman or just didn’t care if the gesture _was_ for them.

That crushed Jillian a little, because if a woman could be that cute while winking and smirking then someone was bound to be smiling for a good ten minutes afterwards. Although, maybe it was just Holtz who was doing that…

Eventually she put it out her mind far enough so she could enjoy the rest of the game. Eleanor Bruisevelt got in some good moves, even scoring a few points in the end quarter, but ultimately it didn’t matter; they lost again. Second week in a row. 

As Holtz watched the Nuclear Bombshells huddle in they were all smiling and hugging each other; congratulating each other as well. Jillian found the gesture comforting. Like they weren’t in it to win the game, but to just have a good time with friends. Seeing that made Holtzmann wish she had a close group of people who she could experience that with. She had Patty, but really, Patty was kind of her only friend.

There were people who she had befriended in college over the past few years, but no one she could actually call a friend. Most of the time Holtzmann just liked knowing that other people had close friends, and it wasn’t like she was totally alone anyway. She did have Patty, her best friend.

 

Jillian went to find the bathroom, hoping it would kill some time before she could go find the stalls set up by the derby teams again and try and talk to the woman she liked so much again. 

As she came out of the run down, verging on disgusting, bathroom Jillian immediately noticed how the place had all but cleared out entirely. There was only people exiting the warehouse. No one had stayed, not even to talk to each other. There were no stalls, just a make-shift bar that was abandoned and, Holtz assumed, empty of any booze. 

Holtzmann began to walk out of the warehouse, a slight frown upon her face. She was actually excited to get the poster she saw last week. Now the opportunity had passed. What was worse was how she didn’t know if she’d meet the woman she had been watching all night. Holtz wouldn’t know where to find her, or even know if it was okay to just approach her.

The woman who gave Holtzmann the stamp as she came in was still sitting at the table out the front of the warehouse, and Holtz walked up to ask her what was happening since everyone was just leaving.

“Hi,” she waved at the woman, who seemed more than tipsy. “I’ve got some questions,” Holtz grinned.

“Sure, sweetheart,” the woman smiled, tucking some of her jet black hair behind her ear.

“Why isn’t there like, all the stalls like last week?”

“Oh honey, that was the opening game. They only do that at the start and end of the seasons. And the showcase,” the woman answered, politely but still slurring her words. 

“Right,” she was noticeably disappointed, and the black haired woman could tell.

“Cheer up, darlin’,” she grinned, eyes not entirely open and focussed on Holtz. “The girls are probably still in the back if you want to go say hi. They love that.”

Holtzmann felt her heart beat a little faster. “Is that allowed? Do people do that?”

“All the time,” the woman said as she gave Jillian a thumbs up.

Holtz thanked the woman and started to walk away in the direction of the subway, not convinced it was a good idea to stay, and ready to go home. But she found her feet stopping after a good twenty metres. 

She knew she should go back and say hello to the woman at least. This was why she was here. This was why she was finally getting some work on her thesis done. And really, why she was also _not_ getting work done but instead leaving the lab and her apartment and maybe beginning to have a life again. Also, the woman did wink at her (Holtz had finally admitted it to herself) which wasn’t a complete sign of disinterest in her.

Holtzmann must have stood there for a good five minutes trying to convince herself to turn back and just say something to Eleanor Bruisevelt. Except before she could even look behind her there was a voice, seemingly calling out to her.

“Hey!” The voice called and Jillian turned back, almost recognizing the voice. “Hello, hey.” It was _her._ Smiling again. At Holtzmann. Again.

“Hey,” Jillian greeted, a grin forming.

The woman walked over to her, a packed brown tote bag hanging from her shoulder. Holtz could see the wheels of a roller skate poking out the top. She wore a navy blue and off white tie dye shirt that had her team name written on the front and blue jeans that flared out a little. 

“You came back,” she said as she stopped in front of Holtz.

“Yeah, I just- You were so good last week that I had to come back and watch.”

“I’m glad. Hope you enjoyed it.”

“You didn’t win again,” Holtz found herself saying. Which she knew she shouldn’t have. The woman just shrugged.

“We never win, but it’s fun anyway.”

“Wait,” Holtz paused, frowning now. “You _never_ win?”

“I think we won once,” the woman said as she brushed her brunette bangs out of her eyes. Holtz hadn’t seen the bangs last week, but her hair was trapped under a helmet the whole time after all. “But that was a good two years ago and I’m pretty sure the other team all had food poisoning or the flu.”

Holtz raised her eyebrows, almost on the verge of laughing about it. 

“I wish I could say our coach had nothing to do with it but…” she continued, grinning now. That was when Holtzmann laughed.

“Your coach gave another team food poisoning so you’d win?” she managed to say between breaths. The woman just nodded and laughed softly with her.

“Sorry,” Jillian said, raising her hands up almost in a defence move. She’d finally stopped giggling.

“It’s alright, it _was_ pretty funny,” the woman smiled again, then stuck out her hand. “I’m Erin, with an E.”

Erin.

_Erin._

Holtzmann thought she totally looked like an Erin. And now she knew her real name. That was better than calling Eleanor Bruisevelt in her mind.

“Holtzmann,” she replied, grabbing Erin’s hand and giving it a firm shake. “Or Holtz, if that’s easier.”

“Is that your first name? Holtzmann?” Erin said, confused.

“No, but only the really pretty girls get to know my first name,” Holtz grinned.

“Oh…”

“It’s Jillian.”

“ _Oh,_ ” Erin blushed. Holtzmann could see it even though it was dark outside and Erin had looked down to her feet. The brunette took a small breath in and looked back up. “Jillian. Pretty name.”

“I kind of prefer Holtz, if that’s alright.”

“Fine by me. Whatever makes you comfortable,” Erin giggled, and Holtz honestly couldn’t help but smile at the sound. “Do you live around here?” Erin asked her.

“No, I’m- I have a place in Long Island. I study at a lab there so…”

“Oh cool,” Erin nodded. “What do you study?”

“I’m kind of an engineer but I’m specialising in experimental particle physics right now. I’m trying to do my thesis.” Jillian didn’t expect Erin to say much, no one ever does. No one knows what to ask when she reveals what she’s studying. It’s not exactly a common course of knowledge.

Except, as it turns out, Erin knows exactly what she means. “Oh my god, wow! That’s amazing, Holtz. I just got a job at Columbia teaching physics. All theoretical, but I can appreciate your work at least.”

“Shut up!” Holtz beamed. “No one ever knows what I’m talking about when I tell them, but look at you. An _actual_ physics professor.” Nothing could dampen the smile on Jillian’s face in that moment.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Erin responded. “Especially with everyone around here. I mean, they’re great people but three people on the team work at Whole Foods so I don’t talk about what I do during the day much. No offense to them but I think quantum theory might not be their strong point.”

Holtz laughed softly and nodded, “I bet you’re a good professor.”

“Thanks,” Erin sighed. “I bet your thesis is going to be great.”

“Thank you,” Holtz said.

“So Holtzmann, it’s been great chatting to you but I’m kind of really beat after the game and-

“Say no more, Erin. I bet you’re tired as hell so I’ll let you go,” Holtz smiled softly at her. 

Erin smiled at her before walking past the blonde, Holtz turning around to watch her go. Then Erin spun on her feet and looked to Holtz while walking backwards.

“You going to come next week too?”

“Probably.”

“We won’t win.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Erin had gotten far enough away to start yelling back to Holtz. “Nice meeting you, Jillian.”

Holtz swallowed and waved at the woman. “Nice meeting you too, Erin.”

Then Holtz watched as she turned back around, walked to her car and then slowly drove away.

 

As Jillian went back to her apartment that night she couldn’t stop thinking about Erin. 

_Erin._ A beautiful woman who understood her work. Maybe not completely since she taught _theoretical_ physics, but she would know enough to understand what Holtzmann was doing with her life currently. It felt like a nice change. Something that she needed in her life.

Holtzmann just couldn’t believe that she had met someone so bright and lovely and _gorgeous_. And someone who could kick some ass out on a roller derby track. She liked that the most; Erin was a new professor at Columbia and on her weekends she was out competing in roller derby. Holtz liked eclectic things, and strange people, but this was possibly the one thing she liked the most. The total contradiction of this woman she had just met. Holtz was enthralled by her already. After one _short_ conversation which she actually managed to say coherent things in.

So it wasn’t a total shock when she came to the realization when she got home that night that Jillian Holtzmann was totally screwed, because she really did like this woman. 


End file.
